Blog Tour: Back Before Dark

Back Before Dark
Author: Tim Shoemaker
Genre: YA Christian Fiction/Mystery
Release Date: March 19, 2013
Publisher: Zonderkidz

Blurb:
Taken! A detour through the park leads Cooper, Gordy, Hiro, and Lunk straight into a trap, and Gordy is abducted! For the kidnapper, it's all a game, a way to settle an old score, with no one getting hurt. But evil has a way of escalating, and once his identity is discovered, the rules change. Despite the best of police efforts, the hours tick by without a clue or a ransom call, leaving everyone to their own fears. Gordy is gone. Cooper descends deeper into a living nightmare, imagining the worst for his best friend and cousin. Hours stretch into days, and talks of a memorial service begin to surface. But Cooper still feels his cousin is alive and develops a reckless plan, changing all the rules. Now the one who set out to rescue his friend needs to be rescued himself. Sometimes rescuing a friend from darkness means going in after them.



About The Writer:

Happily married for more than thirty years to Cheryl, the love of my life.
Dad to three grown sons and two daughter-in-laws
Elder Chairman in my church and high school small group leader
Full time speaker and author since 2004
Living in the greater Chicago area
Grateful for God’s incredible grace and mercy to me in countless ways. 

LINKS:
Website: http://www.timshoemakersmashedtomatoes.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tim.shoemaker.923
Twitter: https://twitter.com/timshoemaker1
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10737.Tim_Shoemaker




My Thoughts:
I'm not sure how I missed that this was Christian Fiction, not that there is anything wrong with this genre, I'm just not religious and this genre doesn't usually do anything for me. I must have been blinded by the interesting blurb and didn't notice. WHICH IS GREAT..btw. Some Christian fiction is too heavy on the religious aspect and too light on the actual story, this is NOT one of those!


Back Before Dark is a very well paced and well written novel! I seriously was surprised that something that was aimed for the younger audience had me a 32 year old woman tense and flipping through the pages eager to read more!  The characters are all well fleshed out and the plot really rolls forward at a very nice steady pace!


I really was surprised by the actions taken by Cooper  and couldn't help shaking my head at him, even though I sorta understood WHY he did it. I liked that his character was really dynamic in that fact. Shades of gray people! Shades of grey! I definitely felt that that was a great element too. A main character that is too perfect and makes all the correct choices..just feels artificial. Cooper and his friends did not feel like anything BUT real kids in a very unique situation!


This is a great book for ANYONE that enjoys a good story about friendship, mystery, and finding ones way in life.